This is an activity during Solar Week, a twice-yearly event in March and October during which classrooms are able to interact with scientists studying the Sun. Outside of Solar Week, information, activities, and resources are archived and available...(View More) online at any time. This is an activity about reflection. Learners will create a foil funnel to focus light that can be detected by various means. This activity is scheduled to occur during Thursday of Solar Week. An optional part of this activity recommends use of a digital multimeter, an amp meter, and/or a solar cell.(View Less)

Students will be introduced to the causes, locations, and hazards of landslides, as well as the role of satellite observations in predicting and studying them. To begin, students investigate the amount of precipitation sufficient to cause a...(View More) landslide in two different mediums (soil and sand), then use their findings in follow-up activities. After the lab, students will think about how rain information can be collected, especially via satellites, to model where landslides will occur. Finally, students will look at areas currently at risk of landslides and research landslide hazards and how to prepare for a landslide event, and create a public service announcement sharing that information. This lesson uses the 5E instructional model. All background information, student worksheets and images/photographs/data are included in these downloadable sections: Teacher’s Guide, Student Capture Sheet and Lab Instructions and PowerPoint Presentation.(View Less)

Students will explore how energy from the sun is absorbed, reflected and radiated back into space by Earth. By completing three short labs investigating the effects of surface color, type of material, or cloud cover on temperature change, students...(View More) will begin to consider how various surfaces might affect Earth's overall temperature. Earth's energy budget will then be explored through a video, simulation activity, and an interactive animation. This lesson uses the 5E instructional model. All background information, student worksheets and images/photographs/data are included in these downloadable sections: Teacher’s Guide, Student Capture Sheet, PowerPoint Presentation and three lab sheets.(View Less)

In this lesson, students explore a discrepant event when they design an experiment to measure the rate that ice melts when in pure water versus salt water. It is designed to help students realize that a carefully-designed experiment may yield...(View More) unexpected results, due to unseen events, even though the experiment is precisely planned and executed. The addition of a new technology may clarify factors in the experiment which were previously unknown. Note: the experiment requires advance preparation the day before: two buckets of water are set-up (one with plain tap water, the other with as much salt dissolved in it as possible), which need to be at room temperature. It also requires ice cubes of uniform shape (e.g., from an ice maker or ice trays filled to uniform capacity). This lesson is part of the Cosmic Times teachers guide and is intended to be used in conjunction with the 1993 Cosmic Times Poster.(View Less)

The purpose of this investigation is to understand the change that takes place when water condenses from a gas to a liquid, and how a change in pressure affects this transformation. Materials needed for the experiment include a large (2L) soda...(View More) bottle, a squeeze bottle with a plastic hose, parking pens, construction paper, wooden matches, and tap water. The resource includes background information, a pre-activity exploration for students, teaching tips and questions to guide student discussion. This is the chapter 12 of Meteorology: An Educator's Resource for Inquiry-Based Learning for Grades 5-9. The guide includes a discussion of learning science, the use of inquiry in the classroom, instructions for making simple weather instruments, and more than 20 weather investigations ranging from teacher-centered to guided and open inquiry investigations.(View Less)

In this laboratory activity, students analyze soil samples from their homes to identify soil properties and learn about soil classification. Soils sampled by students from different environments are compared, and students ask questions about the...(View More) difference they observe. This is a learning activity associated with the GLOBE soil investigations and is supported by the Soils chapter of the GLOBE Teacher's Guide. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program.(View Less)

In this hands-on activity, students conduct bottle experiments to learn about the conditions that best facilitate the decomposition of organic material in soil. In the lab, they observe changes in the decomposition of vegetable scraps by varying the...(View More) temperature, moisture and light conditions. This is a learning activity associated with the GLOBE soil investigations and is supported by the Soil chapter of the GLOBE Teacher's Guide.(View Less)

This is an activity about understanding how the Earth’s axial tilt changes the angle at which sunlight hits the Earth, contributing to the variations in temperature throughout the seasons. Learners will create a sun angle analyzer in order to see...(View More) what happens to the concentration of sunlight when the Sun is at different angles throughout the year. This will help learners realize Earth’s seasonal temperature differences are directly related to sunlight angle due to the Sun’s overall intensity at locations on the Earth. Finally, learners reflect on the results of the Sun-Earth Survey, which is Activity 2 in this set, and their experiences with all of the other activities in the guide. This is Activity 8, the final activity in the Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) guide titled Real Reasons for Seasons: Sun-Earth Connections. The resource guide is available for purchase from the Lawrence Hall of Science.(View Less)

In this open inquiry activity introducing concepts of remote sensing, students will discuss and research different invisible phenomena. They will then test and verify the existence of selected invisible phenomena by using measurement or detection...(View More) devices. Depending on the phenomena being investigated, some of the following supplies are suggested: thermometer, light meter, decibel meter, telescope, gas sensors, filters, anemometer, and/or radon testing kit. This activity is part of the Ground Truth Studies Teacher Handbook, which provides more than 20 activities to build student understanding of global change and remote sensing, and includes background chapters for teachers, glossary, and appendices.(View Less)